British Transport Police

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on ensuring effective co-operation between the British Transport Police and other police forces.

Simon Burns: Effective co-operation between the British Transport Police and other police forces is an operational matter which is dealt with by the respective chief constables. The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Mr McLoughlin), does not get involved in such matters.

British Transport Police

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has made an assessment of areas for potential improvement in co-ordination between the British Transport Police and other police forces.

Simon Burns: Assessment of potential improvements of co-ordination between the British Transport Police and other police forces is an operational matter which is dealt with by the respective chief constables. The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Mr McLoughlin), does not get involved in such matters.

Bus Services: Halton

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding his Department has allocated for the provision of bus services in Halton Borough Council area in each financial year since 2009-10.

Norman Baker: Halton Borough Council can procure tendered local bus services where commercial routes are not viable. As funding is provided through the main Local Government Formula Grant, an unhypothecated block grant allocated by the Department for Communities and Local Government, it is not possible to say how much is allocated to Halton Borough Council for the provision of bus services.
	The Department for Transport allocated Halton Borough Council £39,582 in 2009-10 and £40,597 in 2010-11 in Rural Bus Subsidy Grant (RBSG) for the provision of additional local bus services to rural communities. In line with the Government's drive to simplify local funding, RBSG payments ended in 2010/11. In 2010/11 and 2011/12, the Department made two payments of £6,766 with the aim of kick-starting and supporting community transport as part of the Supporting Community Transport Fund.
	Bus operators running local registered bus services in the Halton Borough Council area are able to claim Bus Service Operators Grant. Although data relating to the amount claimed by operators is not available broken down by local authority area, the following links provide information on payments made to individual operators for claims covering the periods up to (i) 31 March 2010 and (ii) 31 March 2011:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110504135837/http:/www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/buses/busgrants/bsog/661224
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/3258/bsog-qrants-paid-2011.pdf

EU Law

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  which EU directives his Department transposed in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which EU directives his Department expects to transpose in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such directive to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector;
	(2)  which regulations his Department introduced as a result of EU legislation in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which regulations his Department expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

Stephen Hammond: A table giving details of regulations which were introduced as a result of European Union (EU) legislation in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 has been placed in the House Library, and sent directly to your office. The Explanatory Memorandum to each regulation states which directive it transposes.
	In order to increase transparency, in the forthcoming Statement of New Regulation (SNR5) the Government will, for the first time, be publishing those new EU measures which are being implemented in UK law and have a direct effect on business. The statement will include a list of regulations that will be introduced for the period between 1 January 2013 and 30 June 2013.
	Directives we expect to transpose after 30 June 2013 include those listed in a table which I have also placed in the House Library and sent to your office. This information is inevitably less complete as work on transposition of measures is generally less advanced than for those in the nearer future and further measures are likely to be agreed with implementation dates before the end of 2015.
	Estimates of the cost of regulation to the private sector and the public purse are detailed in the Impact Assessments which are published on the
	www.legislation.gov.uk
	website for regulations that were introduced in 2011 and 2012. The table listing regulations includes links to the relevant Impact Assessments in the right hand column. These Impact Assessments show the impact in the UK of transposed directives. In some cases, for example where more than one set of regulations is produced, there may be more than one Impact Assessment. In such cases, the impact of the directive will be the sum of the relevant Impact Assessments.
	For regulations of EU origin to be introduced in 2013 and beyond Impact Assessments are normally published with consultation documents although the costs detailed on these are subject to change as a result of the consultations.

Transport: East of England

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent estimate he has made of average spending per head of the population by his Department in (a) Suffolk, (b) Norfolk, (c) Essex, (d) Cambridgeshire, (e) Bedfordshire, (f) Hertfordshire, (g) Kent and (h) Greater London.

Norman Baker: The most recent data available for total public expenditure on transport is given in HM Treasury's Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses for 2011/12. Counties (a) to (f) equate to the East of England region and the identifiable expenditure on transport services there is £278 per head, (g) Kent is part of the South East region where the expenditure on transport services is £207 per head. (h) Expenditure on transport services in London is £644 per head. Equivalent data is not available below regional level.

West Coast Railway Line: Franchises

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he or his officials received advice on the risk of legal action by (a) the EU Commission and (b) bidders in the cancelled franchise competition for the Intercity West Coast Mainline following his decision to agree a management contract with Virgin Rail.

Simon Burns: The Secretary of State for Transport carried out his duties and obligations within the Railways Act 1993 and within domestic and European procurement law. The UK Government does not normally comment on its dealings with the European Commission or other European institutions. Any such discussions or dealings, whenever they do take place, are confidential.

West Coast Railway Line: Franchises

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he consulted the European Commission before deciding to extend the management contract negotiated with Virgin Rail to operate the Intercity West Coast mainline.

Simon Burns: The Secretary of State carried out his duties and obligations within the Railways Act 1993 and within domestic and European procurement law. The UK Government do not normally comment on its dealings with the European Commission or other European institutions. Any such discussions or dealings, whenever they do take place, are confidential.

Internet

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on (a) strategy and planning, (b) design and build, (c) hosting and infrastructure, (d) content provision and (e) testing and evaluation for her Department’s websites in each of the last two years; and how much has been allocated for each such category of expenditure in 2012-13.

James Brokenshire: The following information provided outlines spend in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13.
	The spend in these years falling under each of the categories (a) strategy and planning, (b) design and build, (c) hosting and infrastructure, (d) content provision and (e) testing and evaluation is as follows:
	2010-11:
	Home Office
	(a) £76,974
	(c) £760,548
	(d) £18,883
	(e) £4,700
	UK Border Agency
	(c) £336,833.03
	2011-12 :
	Home Office
	(c) £635,076.17
	(e) £42,921.00
	UK Border Agency
	(c) £446,119
	2012-13:
	Home Office
	(c) £791,716.74
	UK Border Agency
	(c) £400,788.71
	Figures for the Home Office for 2010-11 and 2012-13 and UK Border Agency for 2011-12 can be found in the GDS Government on the internet data transparency held on the Cabinet Office website.
	These figures reflect the fact that much of the testing carried out is done ‘in house’. The testing carried out by suppliers is wrapped up in overall project or service management costs and would be difficult to extract.

Mousa Abu Maria

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what basis Mousa Abu Maria was granted an entry visa to the UK for his visit in November 2012.

Mark Harper: holding answer 6 December 2012
	Due to its obligations under the Data Protection Act, the UK Border Agency is unable to comment on an individual case.
	The Government takes very seriously any suggestion that the presence of a particular person in this country might not be conducive to the public good. All applications for visas are considered on their individual merits in line with the Immigration Rules.

UK Border Agency

Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will place in the Library the contact details of UK Border Agency officials who could be contacted by hon. Members outside the working hours of the MP's hotline.

Mark Harper: The UK Border Agency's Command and Control Unit, based in Manchester is the 24/7 contact point for such inquiries and undertakes this responsibility when the MP's Hotline is not manned. Their contact number is 0161 261 1640.

Tourism: North East

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will undertake an impact assessment of the potential effect of Scottish independence on tourism in the North East.

Hugh Robertson: The Department has no current plans to undertake an impact assessment of the potential effect of Scottish independence on tourism in the north-east.

UK Fashion and Textile Association

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she next plans to meet the UK Fashion and Textile Association.

Edward Vaizey: The Creative Industries Council is the main forum for discussion between Government and the creative industries. The Creative Industries Council is chaired jointly by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Maria Miller), and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable). The Creative Industries Council met twice in 2012, in January and in June, and its next meeting is scheduled for January 2013.
	In addition, the Secretary of State and I each met with various representatives from the UK fashion industry last year. All meetings with external organisations are declared quarterly, and details can be found on the DCMS website using the following link:
	www.transparency.culture.gov.uk/category/other/meetings

Child Benefit

Ann Coffey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the level the weekly rate of child benefit will be for (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013 for the (i) first child and (ii) second and subsequent children, if it had risen by the retail prices index in every year in (A) 2011, (B) 2012 and (C) 2013.

Sajid Javid: The following table details the weekly child benefit rates if rates had been increased by RPI in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14.
	
		
			 £ 
			  First child Subsequent child 
			 2011-12 21.25 14.00 
			 2012-13 22.45 14.80 
			 2013-14 23.05 15.20 
		
	
	Fairness is a fundamental aspect of the Government's plans to reduce the deficit and protect the economy by ensuring that everyone pays their fair share. The change from RPI to CPI uprating and the measures announced at autumn statement 2012—5 December 2012, Official Report, columns 871-82—should therefore be considered alongside other decisions taken since the June 2010 Budget.
	The 2012 autumn statement builds on the Government's commitment to ensure that it pays to work; to support pensioners and those most in need; and to deliver a progressive tax and welfare system that is affordable, fair and encourages growth. The Government is providing support for those on low and middle incomes by increasing the personal allowance by a further £235 in April 2013, meaning 2.2 million people will have been taken out of tax by the Government's increases in the personal allowance.
	Furthermore, the Government is continuing to help people with the rising cost-of-living through measures such as cancelling the fuel duty increase that was planned for 1 January 2013, and deferring the 2013-14 increase to 1 September 2013.

Working Tax Credit

Ann Coffey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will estimate the level of the basic element of working tax credit in 2013-14 if it had risen by the retail prices index in April (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013;
	(2)  if he will estimate the level of the couples element of the working tax credit in 2013-14 if it had risen by the retail prices index in April (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013;
	(3)  if he will estimate the level of the 30-hour element of working tax credit in 2013-14 if it had risen by the retail prices index in April (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013;
	(4)  how much working tax credit will be received in 2013-14 by a single person aged over 25 years, working 35 hours a week and earning £217 a week, with no other income or savings;
	(5)  if he will estimate how much working tax credit would be received in 2013-14 by a single person aged over 25 years, working 35 hours a week and earning £217 a week, with no other income or savings if each element of the credit had risen by the retail prices index in April (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013; and if the earnings taper had remained at 39 per cent;
	(6)  how much working tax credit will be received in 2013-14 by a couple with one child where one partner works for 35 hours a week, earning £217 a week, where the couple have no other income or savings;
	(7)  if he will estimate how much working tax credit would be received in 2013-14 by a couple with one child where one partner works for 35 hours a week, earning £217 a week, where the couple have no other income or savings, if each element of working tax credit had risen by the retail prices index in April (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013; and if the earnings taper had remained at 39 per cent.

Sajid Javid: The annual value of the basic, couples and 30-hour elements of working tax credit for 2013-14 would be as follows if they had risen by the retail prices index in April 2011, 2012 and 2013:
	
		
			  Maximum rate (£ per year) 
			 WTC Basic element 2,185 
			 WTC Couple element 2,155 
			 WTC 30-hour element 905 
		
	
	A single person aged over 25 years, working 35 hours a week and earning £217 a week, with no other income or savings would receive approximately £710 in working tax credit (WTC) in 2013-14, based on the value of WTC elements as they stand following autumn statement 2012, 5 December 2012, Official Report, columns 871-82.
	A single person aged over 25 years, working 35 hours a week and earning £217 a week, with no other income or savings would receive approximately £1,185 in working tax credit (WTC) in 2013-14 if each element of WTC had risen by the retail prices index in April (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013 and if the earnings taper had remained at 39%.
	A couple with one child where one partner works for 35 hours a week, earning £217 a week, where the couple have no other income or savings would receive approximately £5,955 in tax credits in 2013-14, based on the value of tax credit elements as they stand following autumn statement 2012.
	A couple with one child where one partner works for 35 hours a week, earning £217 a week, where the couple have no other income or savings would receive approximately £6,615 in tax credits in 2013-14 if each element of WTC had risen, by the retail prices index in April (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013 and if the earnings taper had remained at 39%.
	Fairness is a fundamental aspect of the Government's plans to reduce the deficit and protect the economy by ensuring that everyone pays their fair share. The change from RPI to CPI uprating and the measures announced at autumn statement 2012 should therefore be considered alongside other decisions taken since the June 2010 Budget.
	The 2012 autumn statement builds on the Government's commitment to ensure that it pays to work; to support pensioners and those most in need; and to deliver a progressive tax and welfare system that is affordable, fair and encourages growth. The Government is providing support for those on low and middle incomes by increasing the personal allowance by a further £235 in April 2013, meaning 2.2 million people will have been taken out of tax by the Government's increases in the personal allowance.
	Furthermore, the Government is continuing to help people with the rising cost-of-living through measures such as cancelling the fuel duty increase that was planned for 1 January 2013, and deferring the 2013-14 increase to 1 September 2013.

Animals: Exports

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will consider banning live animal exports from the UK.

David Heath: holding answer 17 December 2012
	While the Government would prefer a trade in meat and germ plasm to a trade in live animals, it cannot ban a legal trade. This has. been demonstrated in the courts (both here and in Brussels) on a number of occasions during the 1990s. A key High Court judgment was that of Lord Justice Simon Brown in the 1995 joined cases of R v. Dover Harbour Board (ex parte Gilder), R v. Associated British Ports ex parte Plymouth City Council and the European Court of Justice case C - 1/96 R v. MAFF ex parte CIWF.

Ash Dieback Disease

Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his control strategy for Chalara fraxinea ash dieback will include removing infected trees from new planting sites and tree nurseries for the purposes of reducing threats to the wildlife of the wider countryside and reducing the rate of spread of ash dieback.

David Heath: Diseased plants and trees in nurseries will be traced and destroyed, as once young trees are infected they succumb quickly. For recently-planted trees from potentially infected source, we will continue with the exercise to trace sites as an interim measure. We will continue to use our statutory control powers to contain recently-planted infected sites and to restrict the movement of infected material from the site. We will only require infected stock to be destroyed where it represents a significant threat of spreading the disease to uninfected ash trees.

ICT

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) computers, (b) mobile telephones, (c) BlackBerrys and (d) other pieces of IT equipment were lost or stolen from his Department in (i) 2010-11 and (ii) 2011-12; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The following items were lost or stolen during 2010-11 and 2011-12.
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 
			 Item Lost Stolen Lost Stolen 
			 Computers 2 19 0 5 
			 Mobile telephones 0 3 0 0 
			 Blackberrys 8 3 3 143 
		
	
	As previously explained in the answer of 22 March 2012, Official Report, column 832W, the single theft of 141 BlackBerrys during 2011-12 was a matter we took with great seriousness. The BlackBerrys were new, had not been activated and did not provide potential for access to the Department's systems or data. The police were called in and undertook a thorough investigation. Departmental security procedures relating to the storage of IT equipment were also reviewed in detail and strengthened as a consequence of this incident.
	All departmental IT is fully security encrypted.

Internet

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been spent on (a) strategy and planning, (b) design and build, (c) hosting and infrastructure, (d) content provision and (e) testing and evaluation for his Department's websites in each of the last two years; and how much has been allocated for each such category of expenditure in 2012-13.

Brandon Lewis: The departmental spend on its main website in 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and allocation for 2012-13 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 £ 
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 (a) strategy and planning 0 0 0 0 
			 (b) design and build 70,000 361,90 420,00 0 
			 (c) hosting and infrastructure 372,000 350,350 359,000 285,011 
			 (d) content provision 0 0 0 0 
			 (e) testing and evaluation 3,000 6,221 0 0

Pay

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials in his Department in each of the last two years.

Brandon Lewis: The information is as follows, including comparative figures for 2009-10:
	
		
			 £ 
			 Performance year Year end In year Total 
			 2009-10 832,491 181,426 1,013,917 
			 2010-11 580,050 113,830 £693,880 
			 2011-12 247,750 296,500 544,250 
		
	
	With effect from 1 August 2011, my Department abolished Annual Performance and Special Performance Bonus schemes, replacing them with a new Exceptional Performance scheme. This scheme applies to all staff below the senior civil service and under it individuals or teams can be recognised for exceptional performance or achievements through awards of up to £600.
	This Government have limited senior civil service bonuses to the top 25% of performers. My Department has exercised further restraint by limiting the value of bonus payments to 90% of the civil service-wide maxima.

Public Appointments

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many public appointments (a) regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments and (b) not regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments have been made by his Department since 2007; and in how many such cases the services of recruitment consultants were retained.

Brandon Lewis: Since November 2010, details of all DCLG exceptions to Government spending controls, including recruitment, have been published on the Department's website. These data include all appointments made by our non-departmental public bodies and can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/dclg-exceptions-to-spending-controls
	Information relating to public appointments prior to November 2010 is not held centrally.
	With the exception of the Local Government Ombudsman, all public appointments for our non-departmental public bodies are regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The ombudsman, together with our executive agencies take into account the Commissioner's Code of Practice as best practice when making any public appointments.

Atos Healthcare

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the oral evidence of the Permanent Secretary of his Department to the Public Accounts Committee of 19 November 2012, HC 744-i, Q164, what proportion of Atos Healthcare health care professionals have English as a first language.

Mark Hoban: Data on ‘English as a first language’ is not held by Atos Healthcare on any of their employees. All health care professionals who carry out assessments in respect of benefit claims speak English.
	Atos Healthcare operates strict recruitment criteria, which includes the assessment of an applicant's oral communication skills during a formal interview conducted by experienced medical and administrative managers.

Atos Healthcare

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to section 14, page 18 of the Government's response to Professor Malcolm Harrington's Third Independent Review of the Work Capability Assessment, if he will publish the report by Atos Healthcare into the impact of reducing the National C grade target for employment and support allowance from five per cent to four per cent.

Mark Hoban: Atos Healthcare have written to the Department providing them with their report into the impact of reducing the National C Grade target for employment and support allowance from 5% to 4%.
	This is currently being considered by the Department and is therefore “Commercial in Confidence”.

Business: Recruitment

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to employ staff; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: The Government wants to support growth by breaking down barriers and boosting opportunities by creating the right conditions for businesses to start up and thrive. We have continued to make good progress on our Parliament-long review of employment laws, which is about improving labour market regulation and focusing on those issues which matter to employers, without undermining important protections for individuals. Adding to changes already in place, such as the extension of the qualifying period for unfair dismissal, in September we announced further reforms that will give greater certainty and clarity to employers around dismissal processes, the unfair dismissal compensatory award and settlement agreements, as well as further streamlining employment tribunals. These proposed changes will also give small and medium sized enterprises confidence to take people on.
	We have also launched an online tool to make it easier for first-time employers to access the information they need when taking on their first member of staff, which is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/employing-staff
	and the Business in You campaign has Government and the private sector working together to promote a range of business help and support on issues which include recruitment.

EU Law

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  which EU directives his Department transposed in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which EU directives his Department expects to transpose in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such directive to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector;
	(2)  which regulations his Department introduced as a result of EU legislation in (a) 2011 and (b) 2012 to date; which regulations his Department expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2013 and (ii) the next two years; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.

Jo Swinson: Information on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills' (BIS) implementation of EU law has not until recently been collected centrally. Consequently we will need to draw information both on the transposition of directives and introduction of regulations to implement EU legislation for the years 2011 and 2012 from a number of sources. For EU measures where impact assessments have been published we will be able to provide the costs to business. We will deposit this information in the Libraries of the House in early January 2013.
	However, we do not believe it would be proportionate to also provide estimates of the cost to BIS of preparing, consulting on and implementing these measures.
	In the recently published Fifth Statement of New Regulation (SONR5) the Government has, for the first time, published new European Union measures which are being implemented in UK law and the associated costs to business from January to June 2013. This can be found at
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bis-fifth-statement-of-new-regulation-regulations-covering-january-to-june-2013
	We intend to also provide this information for the next SONR periods which are: SONR6 (July to December 2013) and SONR7 (January to June 2014). We believe this will considerably increase transparency and help industry prepare for the introduction of EU as well as domestic legislation.
	When EU measures are brought into law the impact assessments are placed in the impact assessments library,
	http://www.ialibrary.bis.gov.uk/
	As the hon. Member would expect these provide costs to business.

Local Enterprise Partnerships: Greater London

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 11 December 2012, Official Report, column 235W, on Local Economic Partnerships: Greater London, if he will publish the terms of reference of the London Enterprise Panel Capacity Fund award; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: Guidance for the local enterprise partnership Capacity Fund is available on the Government's website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-enterprise-partnership-capacity-fund-round-2

Hospitals: Admissions

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) discharges and (b) emergency readmissions within 28 days of discharge for those aged over 75 there were, in line with Hospital Episode Statistics measurement guidelines, by primary care trust, in 2011-12.

Anna Soubry: Information on the number of emergency readmissions within 28 days of discharge for 2011-12 is not yet available. Information on the standardised rate of emergency readmissions by primary care trust (the number of emergency readmissions divided by the number of discharges, standardised for changes in case mix) is available for 2010-11 and earlier years from the website of the Health and Social Care Information Centre at:
	https://indicators.ic.nhs.uk/webview/